Sunday, May 29, 2011

In America the states are the laboratories of democracy. So we say, and so most of us believe.Right now, for those who believe that we should look to reality to find out whether policies work, California shows how bad it can get when blue state policies are allowed to run amok. It’s fair to say that the people who enacted and enforced these liberal and progressive policies are so non-judgmental that they will never recognize that their visions have failed.If so, then California is not coming back any time soon.Walter Russell Mead explains it well. High taxes; powerful unions; a business-stifling regulatory environment; judicial mandates imposed on everyone for everything; uncontrolled illegal immigration; dysfunctional schools.... You name it, California has it.Link here.

Mead is surely correct to see the state of California’s prison to be the ultimate sign of political and social failure.In Mead’s words: “The controversial US Supreme Court decision that could ultimately force California to release tens of thousands of prison inmates is more than a shockingly broad exercise of judicial power. It is also an official declaration by the highest constitutional authority in the land that California meets the strict test of state failure: it can no longer enforce the law within its frontiers.“Let there be no mistake: when you produce so many criminals that you can’t afford to lock them up, you are a failed state. Virtually every important civil institution in society has to fail to get you to this point. Your homes and houses of worship are failing to build law abiding citizens, much less responsible and informed voters. Your schools aren’t educating enough of your kids to make an honest living. Your taxes and policies are so bad that you are driving thousands of businesses away. Your management systems must be fouled and confused to the max for you to create something so dysfunctional, so wildly beyond your means, that the Supreme Court of the United States (wisely or foolishly is another question) starts to micromanage your jails.“California used to be the glory of this country, the dream by the sea, the magic state. Now it produces so many criminals it can’t pay to keep them locked up.” What’s left to say, except: Have a nice day!